Tag: Revenge

FOGGY MOUNTAIN – Review

A scene from the Vietnamese action drama FOGGY MOUNTAIN. Courtesy of Well Go USA

Regular readers will know I’ve praised a slew of East Asian martial arts and action flicks in the past few years. South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand, among others have followed the path of the prolific Hong Kong studios, often providing splashier fight and stunt sequences, whether the setting is historical or contemporary. Revenge is the most common classic driver of these plots, so when I saw this arrival from Vietnam, I was hoping for more of the same from FOGGY MOUNTAIN (originally DIN MU SUONG). That’s not what I got, but it’s not all bad news.

Phi (Peter Pham) is a superb MMA fighter, reluctantly competing in underground matches to raise money, hoping to afford a cure for his wife’s blindness. Ba Rau (Kim Long Thach) is the local crime boss who tries to force him to keep fighting as one of his own guys. Phi refuses. Ba Rau and his thugs go to Phi’s home, and find his wife there alone. When Phi arrives, she’s hanging from the ceiling. That starts the revenge journey.

Ba Rau moved his operation from the city to the eponymous rural community. He’s also shifted from staging fights to abducting and trafficking children, intimidating the local leaders to comply, rather than suffer a bloodbath. Phi tracks them down and starts saving captured kids, eliminating any henchmen in his path. That places most of the action in woods and landscapes much lovelier than the rundown dwellings and despicable actions taking place there. The toughest of the enforcers is Vong Akork (Simon Kook), who looks like what Thai superstar Tony Jaa would if he bulked up on steroids, stopping about 2/3 of the way to the legendary Bolo Yeung’s muscle mass.



Everyone already knows most of where the story must take the players, so the measure of quality lies in how they get there. Phi spends a lot of time leading the rescued kids’ escape through the woods and mountains while being pursued by a legion of machete-wielding goons. A few of those minions also have guns to stack the odds even more heavily against our protagonists. On the plus side, there are a couple of surprises in the screenplay, and what they show of the fights is properly gritty and human-scale without wire work or other gimmicks. Kim Long Thach milks his smug, vicious villain role for all it’s worth, especially with an over-the-top evil laugh at the damage he inflicts at will. Pham, a real martial artist as well as actor, follows the tradition of humble heroes pushed too far by the baddies and looks perfectly credible in combat.

The downside is that we’re short-changed on the accustomed dosage of violent stuff. Several fights are cut short, leaving out the (usually gratifying) endings we seek. At only 86 minutes, the two directors (Phan Ahn, Ken Din) might have trimmed some of the gore for international distribution, making this version shorter and more tamely rate-able than many others. I’d be interested in seeing a director’s cut if one is ever released to confirm the existence of action footage we missed.

It’s still a reasonably worthy diversion, but gear down your expectations for adrenaline rushes, since this is quieter and less bloody than many of its competitors.

FOGGY MOUNTAIN, in Vietnamese with English subtitles, debuts streaming exclusively on Hi-YAH! and in digital format from Well Go USA and other platforms, on Tuesday, Feb. 6.

RATING: 2 out of 4 stars

THE BEEKEEPER – Review

Jason Statham stars as Clay in director David Ayer’s THE BEEKEEPER. An Amazon MGM Studios film. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios © 2024 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

By now, Jason Statham’s fans expect his movies to have a generous dose of over-the-top action sequences, with little regard for the creativity (or even coherence) of the plot. Ka-ching! THE BEEKEEPER stirs up plenty of adrenaline in a standard story line that sets up a whole lot of Statham at his Statham-est.

There’s a bit of JOHN WICK in the premise of THE BEEKEEPER. Statham is a retired super-secret, super-skilled government agent, trying to live quietly, just tending to his titular hives. He rents space from a kind, elderly lady (Phylicia Rashad), who promptly gets conned out of all her savings and $2 mil from a charity she helps manage by a multi-million dollar internet scamming operation. They target victims via spyware that freezes computers and directs their unsuspecting owners to call a number for the remedy. That leads them to a massive call center, teeming with operatives who clean out whatever they can by getting account info and passwords from the innocents.

Thus begins Jason’s obligatory revenge course, progressively wrecking facilities and killing henchmen and honchos as he works his way up the ladder to the top dogs. Jeremy Irons adds a touch of class as a former head of the CIA, overseeing security and covering up the crimes and excesses of the pyramid’s despicable young leader (Josh Hutcherson). His character’s biggest challenge is hiding his contempt for that boss.

For a kicker, Rashad’s character just happens to be the mother of an FBI agent (Emmy Raver-Lampman) who doggedly pursues the same network of baddies, but strictly by-the-book, while honor-bound to stop Statham’s vengeance campaign. His heroism is amplified by (too many) speeches about protecting the helpless from their predators and disabling, rather than killing, most of the cops and clueless henchmen who don’t know the scum-iosity (scum-ishness? scum-ery?) of their employers.

The over-the-top action is properly exciting, except for director David Ayer framing many parts of the fights too close to the lens to fully appreciate the stunt work before us. The plot goes truly off the sanity charts as Statham zeroes in on the top bananas. I ain’t sayin’ no more about that. Better for you to learn the rest in the moment.

As one of the producers, Statham seemingly spent far more on F/X and stunts than on Kurt Wimmer’s script and cast salaries. Wimmer has penned quite a few action flicks, including THE EXPENDABLES 4, in which Statham co-starred.

Basically, it’s an amalgam of every revenge flick you’ve ever seen, especially by establishing Statham as an analog to Wick, by not being the boogeyman but the one you send to kill the boogeyman. I half-expected someone to describe him as the Baba Yaga.

Most cast members with speaking roles portray their personae adequately to adroitly. Those characters without dialog will be destined for orthopedic wards (if they’re lucky) or a coffin before the credits roll.

Whenever Statham is kicking butts on the screen, mine will most likely be in a seat watching it. Suspend a bit more than usual of your disbelief and enjoy the fun stuff.

THE BEEKEEPER opens in theaters (or, for England’s Mr. Statham, cinemas) on Friday, Jan. 12.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

VENGEANCE IS MINE – Review

A scene from VENGEANCE IS MINE. Photo credit: Dubin (Submersive Media). Courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

I wonder what percentage of action movies rely on our innate human desire to avenge a wrong? That premise serves many genres – Westerns, martial arts, period and contemporary crime, etc. They range from low-key Everyman protagonists to hardcore splatterfests. This quiet little offering is a fine example of the former.

VENGEANCE IS MINE opens with an armed robbery and escape by four masked thugs in an SUV. Cut to Harry (Con O’Neill), a severely depressed man living on a cot in a church basement, in exchange for menial services. He considers suicide. We gradually learn that his state is the result of helplessly witnessing his wife and daughter being killed by those thugs’ vehicle during their escape. Harry has spent years waiting for a hired detective to discover who they were, since he’d only briefly glimpsed their faces and they were never caught. The real story kicks in when he finally gets a lead from his investigator.

Harry was obviously never a man of action. He’d surely never even seen a Charles Bronson movie, since he commits so many rookie mistakes that result in various unpleasant consequences. O’Neill makes it work with a splendid performance, showing us Harry’s overwhelming grief and his inner conflicts when the opportunity for payback finally arises. Despite his years of searching and suffering, that opening doesn’t turn him into a Billy Jack (you were expecting me to cite Rambo, weren’t you?). His pain continues even in moments of gratification. That makes him more relatable than many such leads who already have, or train hard to acquire, the kill skills for their missions. Writer/director Hadi Hajaig tells the tale efficiently in only 79 minutes, which is still enough time for showing all the character traits, moods and story arc needed for a satisfying package. The gritty London locations support the realistic, human-scale action while presumably minimizing the budget.

Finally, here’s a nod to stunt coordinator Peter Pedrero. In 30 years, he’s amassed 335 stunt credits while only getting a score of roles to call his own. He looks and acts the part of a low-level thug like one who’s done a lot more on camera than take some other guy’s punches and falls.

That path reminds me of Red West, who spent much of his career in stunts, often playing unnamed henchmen, before landing some featured roles later in his career, including a lead in another fine indie film, GOODBYE SOLO. It’s nice to see hard work in the trenches rewarded.

VENGEANCE IS MINE opens Oct. 8 in select theaters and on demand.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

RIDERS OF JUSTICE – Review

A scene from RIDERS OF JUSTICE (Retfærdighedens Ryttere), a Magnet release.
Photo credit: Rolf Konow. Courtesy of Magnet Releasing

Although the title reads like something from a 1930s Western, this is a very contemporary Danish revenge flick with a unique blend of action and comedy, written and directed by Anders Thomas Jensen and starring Mads Mikkelsen (Oscar-winning ANOTHER ROUND, TV’s “Hannibal”). It is also my favorite film, thus far, of 2021. Sneaky excellence in a surprising package.

We open with math geek Otto (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) struggling to explain the commercial value of his algorithm for predictions, factoring far more causal factors than any other program. It is akin to the axiomatic butterfly in Africa fluttering its wings setting in motion a chain of events that result in something quite different across the globe. The tunnel-vision Board fails to see how it will serve their only goal of selling their product, so they fire him and his fellow nerds.

That lands him in a commuter train car (earlier than usual) which explodes, killing a bunch of the passengers. One is a woman to whom he chivalrously gave his seat. Otto and the woman’s teen daughter, Mathilde (Andrea Heick Gadeberg) survive. He learns that the key witness about to testify against the head of a local gang of thugs – the eponymous Riders – is another casualty of this seeming accident.

But filled with survivor’s guilt, and licking the fresh wounds of his rejected program, Otto recalls seeing something that convinces him the blast was a planned hit on the witness, rather than a random bit of bad luck. The police dismiss his speculation. So Otto and his cohorts Lennart (Lars Brygmann) and Emmenthaler (Nicolas Bro) start trying to prove their point via their method. They take this idea to the husband of the unlucky lady, Markus (Mads Mikkelsen), a hard-nosed career soldier who was forced to interrupt his career abroad to try being a parent to his surly teen daughter Mathilde.

From that point on, the movie is a masterful blend of action, slapstick and character comedy as the foursome hunts the perps to right that hideous wrong, while keeping Markus’ daughter from learning what they’re doing. She’s busy trying to convince her angry, taciturn dad to open up and deal with his feelings, not knowing his method is already in process, and about as far from a shrink’s couch as one could get.

This film plays as a welcome novelty in the “Don’t-F***-with- My-Family” genre. Mikkelsen assumes the mantle of a Danish Liam Neeson, who has established himself (and his particular set of skills) as an Irish Charles Bronson, who made a career of being an American Chuck Norris, with the bonus of added range and talent. There is plenty of action, delightful humor and the proper amount of emotional work in this wonderful dark comedy. The four male avengers contribute first-rate performances in fleshing out relatable, complex protagonists. With all the worldwide travel restrictions of the past year, we can be grateful none apply to importing films like this.

RIDERS OF JUSTICE, in Danish with English subtitles, opens Friday, May 14, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema and streaming on demand.

RATING: 3 1/2 out of 4 stars

PEPPERMINT (2018) – Review

Though the Summer movie season officially ended with the previous three-day holiday, one big, bombastic “shoot-em-up” is arriving in advance of the serious Fall flicks. This “hard R” action thriller is riding the still new wave of “female-fronted” stunt spectacles that began last year with the surprise (to many studio heads) smash WONDER WOMAN, proving that a superhero saga starring a woman could attract the big box office numbers. A couple of months later, Oscar-winner Charlize Theron took things much further in the very adult, extremely violent tale ATOMIC BLONDE. Near the start of this year, another Best Actress, Jennifer Lawrence, was the lead in the equally bloody and sexy RED SPARROW. Now comes a star who actually earned her action accolades on TV, a dozen years ago on “Alias”, though the last decade or so she’s been a staple of “rom-coms” and domestic dramas. Can she get her martial arts “mojo” back now, not as another superhero or super-spy, but as an angel of vengeance, seeking justice while amassing a very high body count in PEPPERMINT?

The story begins as the quiet of a pre-dawn LA is broken by the strained “shocks” of a car’s that’s seen better days. From the gasps and grunts, we’re thinking “we shouldn’t come a’ knockin’ “. The camera zooms into the interior where we do see a couple getting quite “physical”. A gunshot ends the noise. Exiting the vehicle is a woman, Riley North (Jennifer Garner). “Just how did she get here?”, we’re wondering,  just as the movie shifts into reverse and comes to a halt nearly five years ago to the day. Riley’s a working mother trying to make ends meet along with her husband Chris (Jeff Hephner), who’s the owner of a struggling auto shop. Still they’ve made a wonderful, cozy home for themselves and nine year-old daughter Carly (Cailey Fleming). However, Chris is tempted when one of the mechanics offers him a job as the “wheel man’ in his plan to rip off a drug dealer. But Cailey’s birthday night is a “wake up call” for Chris, who leaves a message on the mechanic’s cell, declining the gig. Too late. Drug kingpin Garcia (Juan Pablo Raba) has gotten wind of the plot, offing Chris’s pal before sending a hit squad to get Chris. The assassins tail the North family car to an outdoor Christmas/Winter carnival. Under the neon light of the ferris wheel, the gang opens fire, killing Chris and Cailey as Riley is seriously wounded. When she awakens in the hospital, sympathetic police detective Carmichael (John Gallagher, Jr.) delivers the bad news. But they’ve picked up some suspects. Riley immediately agrees to pick them out of a line up, which she does without hesitation. After a defense attorney tries to bribe her, Riley throws him out of her home on the eve of the hearing. This turns into a farce, with the Judge releasing the three suspects. When Riley lunges for them, she is restrained and placed into an ambulance bound for a mental hospital. Riley escapes and disappears on the busy streets. And flash forward to today as Carmichael , who’s now spiking his morning coffee with booze (clue) and colleague, Detective Beltran (John Ortiz) are called in to meet with FBI agent Inman (Annie Ilonzeh). They’ve tracked Riley across the globe as she transforms herself into a killing machine, expert in hand-to-hand combat, and skilled in all manner of firearms and explosives. The anniversary of the attack is in the next couple of days. Will Riley take down Garcia and his operation, along with crooked cops and judges in his pocket, and make it a blood red Christmas in Los Angeles?

So has Ms. Garner gotten her action hero “groove” back? Oh, she most assuredly is a force of nature, and retribution, in this flick. Not a “mama grizzly”, more of a “mama T-Rex”. Riley is a stretched out Sarah Conner from T2 mixed with equal parts Pvt. Vasquez and Ripley from ALIENS. Though she’s hyper-focused on “taking out the trash”, Garner brings some vulnerability to her during the quiet moments, when every child becomes her lost daughter. Cailie’s ghost pops up several times, hubby Chris, not at all. On the witness stand, Garner shows us how the barely together mother, not fully healed physically or mentally, completely unravels, realizing that the cards are stacked against her. Plus she gets just as down and dirty as the Rock or Cruise this past Summer. Welcome back from “PG purgatory” and the string of noble, often interchangeable parent roles. I’m sure she’ll do a few more, but let’s hope she gets more parts in this similar mode ( and better written). As for Riley’s “mop up crew” (scouring the aftermath of her “project”), Gallagher is all clean-cut (despite the bushy “porn ‘stashe”), earnest concern in the flashbacks, while in the now, he’s more cynical, less easy to “read”. Ortiz’s Beltrand is pretty much the somber, straight-talker in both timelines, as he tries to hide his admiration for the avenging “angel of Skid Row”. Raba makes a most intimidating villain as the brutal, “iron-fisted” ruler of the underworld, Garcia. No “three strikes”for him, make a foul or error and you’re out…permanently.

Veteran action director Pierre Morel (TAKEN) keeps the tension very taut during the violent set pieces, though the film starts to sputter during the cuts to the cops closing in on Riley. This may be due to the somewhat cliched script by Chad St. John that features “cannon fodder” baddies who strut and grimace as though they were lifted from old episodes of TV’s “Miami Vice”. And because of their ethnicity, the shadow of xenophobia rears its ugly head. Yes, Riley does take out one shady guy that she might have run into at the PTA meeting, but two other “wasp sell-outs” are liquidated off camera (tossed off in a mention by a “G-man”), while Riley mows down a near army of heavily “tatted” Latinos who get the old JOHN WICK, “head shot” treatment. There’s even a huge gun battle in a pinata (?) warehouse (well there were packs of drugs hidden in the candy). And the film makers missed out on a major “crowd pleasin'” scene by not letting us see Riley take down the worst, most smarmy of the “white collar” creeps. Yes, we know it’s a revenge fantasy much like DEATH WISH (the original, not the recent tepid remake), but much of the plot comes off as ham-fisted and silly, particularly the overwrought Skid Row smackdown (yes these gangs are that dumb). Plus the last few seconds nearly scream “franchise” before it fades to black. I’m thinking this might be the only “mission” for this lady “Punisher” (her origin was very close to the recent Netflix Marvel series, only missing the carousel), although it’s a huge step up from Garner’s last revenge seeking character, ELEKTRA (a major Marvel misfire before they had their own studio). This bit of PEPPERMINT is far from refreshing,  leaving a bad aftertaste.

2 Out of 5

ELLE – Review

Isabelle Huppert as Michèle, in Paul Verhoeven's ELLE. Photo by Guy Ferrandis/ SBS Productions, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics (c)
Isabelle Huppert as Michèle, in Paul Verhoeven’s ELLE.
Photo by Guy Ferrandis/ SBS Productions, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics (c)

 

Revenge, cleverly achieved by a woman, is the theme of the twisty, sometimes disturbing, and often darkly humorous French thriller ELLE. Audiences expecting art house fare may be surprised to find director Paul Verhoeven’s film so entertaining, particularly since it is about a woman avenging a rape. But many things are surprising about ELLE – its complexity, its family drama, its compassion, and most of all, its complicated heroine Michele LeBlanc, played by Isabelle Huppert in an Oscar-worthy performance.

ELLE opens with a shocking scene, of a rape, but what happens afterwards is shocking too. The scene is presented in a detached manner but we are surprised by the woman’s reaction after her assailant departs. She scolds her cat, who is the sole witness to the attack, for not protecting her, and then cleans up. She does not call the police. Is it shock? Did we misunderstand what we saw? We are immediately filled with questions, and hooked on the story.

This may be the most unpredictable film you see this year. Director Paul Verhoeven may be best known to American audiences for ROBOCOP but his European films have generally been more complex. There is a feminist streak to this film but even that is not simple and straightforward. Verhoeven certainly knows how to craft a film to grip and entertain an audience, but the lurid subject, the film’s unconventional central character, its ambiguity and inky dark, biting humor give that entertainment an unsettling edge. All assumptions are overturned and nothing is what you expect, least of all the complicated human character at the center.

Much of what makes this film so riveting is the astounding Isabelle Huppert, who is on-screen through most of the film. Michele is seeking revenge for rape but she is no ordinary helpless victim. She has a shadowy past, and as the head of a successful company that designs violent video games, she is skilled at constructing violent scenarios. And she has her own history with violence, the child of a serial killer. Her revenge is constructed with the same exacting precision as the company’s games.

Many viewers are likely to feel uneasy about seeing a film that includes a rape but the theme of revenge and Michele’s own quirks quickly turn the tables on who is the final victim. After its shocking start, the film moves on to Michele’s life, professional and personal, and her past. Just as the rape begins to recede in theaudience’s minds, Verhoeven returns to it, and keeps up this back-and-forth throughout the film. Michele runs her video game company with her business partner and best friend Anna (Anne Consigny). At work, Michele is a woman of steely resolve and focus, who is dealing with rebellious employees while pressing them to up the shock value in the newest game they are working on. Many of her employees are men who resent having a female boss, but Michele handles that deftly, in a nice feminist touch.

In her personal life, she copes with her odd mother (Judith Magre), a self-absorbed woman decked out in finery and battling time with the help of a boy toy, and her feelings about her father. Michele also is having an affair with Robert (Christian Berkel), Anna’s husband, and dealing with her own ex-husband Richard (Charles Berling) as well as their grown but immature son Vincent (Jonas Bloquet). Vincent has the girlfriend from hell (Alice Isaaz), who is a pregnant, self-centered tyrant who abuses him. When a handsome neighbor, Patrick (Laurent Lafitte), moves in, he seems to offer a rare bit of male competence in this scenario.

Of course, none of that is quite what it seems nor turns out as we expect, and it is all liberally salted with darkest humor as well as a touching humanity. The film periodically revisits the rape scene at the beginning, and the rapist returns as well, but the focus is always on Michele. That she is plotting revenge is not surprising but how that comes about is. Michele’s cool response after the attack is odd, but we learn there is a reason for her distrust of police and news media. Beside the jarring start, the film has disturbing references to rough sex and violence. But make no mistake, this is not misogyny – this woman is definitely in charge.

Verhoeven proves himself a master of suspense and clever plotting in ELLE, and sets out to keep the audience on edge. The director is greatly aided by Huppert’s remarkable performance. Huppert plays a woman ten years younger than her actual age of 61 but looks younger still. Although we are fascinated by Michele and root for her, there is little that is sweet about this complicated character. Both the rape and her tragic childhood (which we learn about in the film) make her a sympathetic figure but she is still a fearsome force rather than anything cuddly. She certainly can take care of herself, and everyone around her for that matter.

ELLE is the kind of film that sticks in your mind, something you admire for its brilliant construction yet may struggle to say you enjoyed. It certainly provokes thought. The revenge Michele exacts at the end is plotted as carefully and precisely as one of her games, and resolves not only the matter of the rapist but several matters in her personal life. ELLE is an amazing clockwork construction that will leave audiences in a quandary, wanting to cheer for her revenge while squirming with discomfort at the whole process and wondering about what they just experienced.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

 

I SAW THE DEVIL – The Review

An eye for an eye is just the beginning…

Not only are we experiencing the emergence of the Korean cinema like never before, we’re also fortunately experiencing this rise in a time when foreign film is increasingly more accessible to American audiences. Sure, foreign film fare is still far from mainstream in the United States, but I hope films such as I SAW THE DEVIL — primarily a genre film for the sake of introduction, but is really much more – encourages adventurous viewers to seek out other gems.

One of the most fascinating things about the theatre-going experience here in the U.S. is that we have relatively relaxed censorship. I SAW THE DEVIL was cut-down and censored into a shorter version in its home of Korea, but here we get to enjoy the full, uncut 141-minute version. The cuts were clearly due to the film’s graphic nature, but I caution viewers from falling victim to the film’s graphic violence being called excessive.

I SAW THE DEVIL was written by Hoon-jung Park (his first) and directed by Jee-woon Kim (THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD). Jee-woon Kim is just one of a group of Korean filmmakers – including Bong Joon-ho, THE HOST; and Park-Chan wook, OLDBOY — versed in the horror genre creating a phenomenal international wave of attention for the fresh and creative visions.

I SAW THE DEVIL begins by taking the viewer on a snowy winter drive down an isolated rural road. The driver is an attractive, young woman. That woman happens to be the daughter of the police chief and the wife of secret agent Kim Soo-hyeon, played by Byung-hun Lee. Most Americans have seen this physically talented actor portray Storm Shadow in G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA, but for a better taste of his overall talent, refer to THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD or THREE… EXTREMES, in which he directed the segment titled CUT.

This young woman is brutally murdered by a stranger named Kyung-Chul, posing as a school bus driver. Creepy. Unfortunately for her, she’s not his first and certainly not his last. Unfortunately for him, this would be the murder that begins his end. Once Kim Soo-hyeon finds out, every ounce of his highly-trained being becomes hell-bent on making Kyung-Chul suffer. What results is a brutal and cunning cat-and-mouse chase that shifts between the two, from hunter to the hunted, and vice-versa.

Kyung-Chul is played by Min-sik Choi, best known here by his unforgettable performance as Dae-su Oh in OLDBOY. Choi is cinematically magnetic, an onscreen presence similar to what Roy Orbison did for music… not very pretty to look at, but his talent more than makes up for his lack of the typical star look. Choi displays one of the most convincingly evil and intelligent characters since Anthony Hopkins first dawned the Hannibal Lector mythos. Choi’s appearance in I SAW THE DEVIL may best be described as a stockier, Korean Benicio del Toro, the actor whom I would cast in the American remake, if I were willing to support such a thing… which I do not.

Some may feel the film is too long. I understand this, but disagree. Those who find difficulty in watching the graphic violence contained in I SAW THE DEVIL may be so inclined to call it long, and in some respects there are a handful of spots in which the pace could have quickened slightly. Even cutting a bit of the torture in spots would be possible, but ultimately this would have little overall effect on the film’s length. I SAW THE DEVIL makes a point of dwelling on the nature of revenge and its potentially endless circular nature. You wronged me, so I’ll wrong you, vice-versa, so on, and so on again.

Yes, the violence is graphic, difficult to watch in places, but its not gory so much as being unflinchingly realistic and brutal. Many filmmakers would choose to cutaway just before impact, or to imply the severity of the torture, but Jee-woon Kim refuses to skirt around the reality of violence. This makes many of us uncomfortable, which is actually the point.

But it’s not just America. After so many centuries of violence and cruelty, the human species has become desensitized so that it’s a constant uphill battle to make the viewer feel pain and fear in the cinema. Therefore, filmmakers telling these stories – just as crucial and significant as the peaceful, pleasant ones – must be increasingly creative, even to the point of excess, in order to convey a message or an emotion once accomplished with mere innuendo.

I SAW THE DEVIL combines the calculated suspense of Alfred Hitchcock with the gritty appeal of the film noir. The story does not succumb to the shallow notion of a purely good hero and a purely evil villain, instead showing both sides of both men. In the end, revenge is served, but not without great cost to both men. It’s a bittersweet conclusion, enhanced by powerful performances and the director’s keen eye for exhilarating visual choices.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Review: CATS & DOGS – THE REVENGE OF KITTY GALORE

The original CATS & DOGS (2001) was a decent kids’ movie, now followed nine years later by a sequel… CATS & DOGS: THE REVENGE OF KITTY GALORE. It may seem like a long time between films, but the somewhat shocking truth is that it holds up. CATS & DOGS: ROKG is directed by Brad Peyton (first feature) and is actually a lot of fun… in between the scenes when the animals speak.

You mat be asking what the point is then, if I didn’t care much for the scenes featuring talking cats and dogs, in a movie about… talking cats and dogs, but there are some unexpected surprises to be had in this otherwise typical action/comedy for the little movie geeks. So kids, the magic word for today is… parody!

CATS & DOGS: ROKG is all about Diggs — voiced by James Marsden (THE BOX, ENCHANTED) — an enthusiastic, but accident-prone German shepherd, all too eager to be heroic in his job as a K9 unit for the police. When his most recent effort to be hero results in disaster, it becomes the last straw and he’s sent back to the dreaded kennel.

Unsure of his future, but unwilling to give up on being the hero he believes himself to be, Diggs meets an older, scruffy mutt named Butch — voiced by Nick Nolte (no introduction needed) — who recruits Diggs into a secret covert canine force, devoted to protecting humans from the evil endeavors of their feline arch enemies. This time, it turns out the infamous Kitty galore — voiced by Bette Midler — still lives, minus her fur, and is bent on revenge against dogs and humans alike for what has happened to her. Will she succeed in her diabolical plan, or with the pooch patrol prevail?

The parodies begin to surface as Butch, none too impressed with Diggs, is assigned to partner with him… seeing a trend yet? Diggs, a dog cop, rhymes with Riggs, a human cop from LETHAL WEAPON… Diggs is also a loose cannon, partnered with another more seriously seasoned cop, voiced by Nick Nolte, a la 48 HOURS… right. I saw the light bulb go on.

I do need to back up for a moment and spend a bit of time on the opening title sequence. It’s crucial to the gist of what the director is doing here. Perhaps my favorite part of CATS & DOGS: ROKG, the rather lengthy but enjoyable title sequence is a pet-inspired parody of the title sequences from the James Bond films, in fact… nearly all of them, strung together with the music and graphic design elements and everything. It’s quite ingenious really, funny and cute.

So, how does this setup the rest of the film? The James Bond universe is integrated throughout CATS & DOGS: ROKG, from M to Q, incorporating much of the standard 007 flair in humorous ways that will entice the minds of kids and create a reason for accompanying adults to actually have a good time. There’ll be familiar Bond villains, with familiar parodied names, and Kitty Galore’s fiendish plot is classic Bond villain material.

While this is primarily the story of Diggs, the supporting cast of CATS & DOGS: ROKG rounds out robustly with Christina Applegate, Katt Williams (yes, in a kids’ movie), Neil Patrick Harris, Wallace Shawn, Joe Pantoliano, Michael Clarke Duncan, Chris O’Donnell and none other than Roger Moore himself!

Being it’s a movie for minors, CATS & DOGS: ROKG is saturated with CGI, which is both occasionally curious and often distracting. Much of it is necessary, such as the talking animals, but this is just something I’ve never gotten used to. The effect, as used in this movie, just didn’t strike me as being of the same quality as preceding films. In all honesty, I think I would have rather them not made the animals’ mouths move when they spoke, leaving it to my imagination. Then again, CATS & DOGS: ROKG wasn’t made for me and my 30-something crowd… it was made for the single-digit midgets, overflowing with imagination.

With that said, CATS & DOGS: ROKG succeeds at being a movie not equal to, but nearly compared to the visually-engaging, fun-filled thrill ride that is Robert Rodriguez’s SPY KIDS franchise. Parents can rest assured the film is firmly fixed in the family-friendly arena, their little ones will have a blast and the parents are likely to leave the theater not feeling ripped off to bad either.

Overall Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

SXSW (Short) Review: JUNKO’S SHAMISEN

There are few topics as old and time-tested for endurance as the revenge story. JUNKO’S SHAMISEN is yet another case of how such a common story concept can repeatedly be used and kept fresh and entertaining. Filmmaker Sol Friedman has managed to effectively evoke a multitude of cinematic influences into roughly 10 minutes of highly stylized coolness, while avoiding any inkling of excess.

This short film draws upon a number of influential films and other cultural mediums, including anime and comic books. There is a flavor of KILL BILL in the cinematography and visual design, which is in turn to suggest a flavor of various old school films of the samurai/martial arts genre.

Written, designed and directed by Sol Friedman, he flawlessly integrates traditional cell animation, 2D “cut out” style set animation, comic book dialogue bubbles and even a bit of stop-motion to round things out. All of this is woven into the live action base of the film, which leaps off the screen with vivid color, depth and texture. A nod also goes out to Vinit Borrison for the film’s cinematography.

JUNKO’S SHAMISEN is a quiet story about a young girl named Junko (Clemence Wong) and her blind grandfather. They live a quiet, simple life. Junko’s grandfather plays a three-stringed instrument called a shamisen, but when the ruthless Lord Yamamura (Benny Min) shows up to collect his tax, Junko’s grandfather (David Fujino) pays the ultimate price. Junko comes out of her shell and embarks on a vengeance mission, deceptively contradicting her petite and unthreatening visage.

To say this is a quiet story is not to suggest boredom and a lack of intensity. JUNKO’S SHAMISEN packs a wallop without forcing it upon the audience, which says a great deal about Sol Friedman’s mastery of his craft. Shots are carefully planned, pacing and the edits are meticulously calculated. The story of Junko’s revenge is simple and sweet, but also brief and beautifully brutal.

The best part of the whole film is the ending, whereas the story leads up to and hints subtly toward, nailing the tenderly twisted essence of JUNKO’S SHAMISEN one final, glorious time. Yes, a film can be both sick and sweet at the same time, and this film is the proof.

As satisfying as this short film is, I see Sol Friedman getting the attention of some very high heads in the biz and if he doesn’t, well… that’s really a shame! JUNKO’S SHAMISEN serves as the calling card of a talented filmmaker with a keen sense of cinematic style and craft.